Solar-Powered Camels and More From Israel Renewable Energy Conference

A pair of solar panels draped over a camel's hump. I came across this scene last week outside the Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Conference and wasn't quite sure what to make of it. One solar firm's attempt to make some sort of metaphorical statement about the business? Or just a convenient, live billboard? The camel's owner, whom I found sitting a few steps away, could provide no clues.

However, other events last week at the conference provided a window onto an industry that is experiencing exponential growth, and a handful of kibbutzim (rural collective farms) that are attempting to harness the power of the clean energy economy to create a new model for sustainable development in the region.

With the sun shining year round and an abundance of fallow land, renewable energy is the new cash crop.